10 Fictional Languages We Wish We Knew

1. Klingon

The Klingon language is spoken by Klingons in the Star Trek universe. It was first used by James Doohan (Scotty) in “Star Trek: The Motion Picture.” After that movie, Marc Okrand developed Klingon to be a full-fledged language. Okrand wanted the language to sound unusual, so he picked sounds that combined in ways not generally found in other languages. Klingon has 21 consonants and 5 vowels, and is normally written in a variation of the Latin alphabet.

2. Furbish

Furbish (and the Furby) was invented by Dave Hampton, founder of game company Sounds Amazing. He wanted to make a new kind of virtual pet that was different than a Tamagotchi. Furbies are bi-lingual in that they speak English and Furbish. The older they get, the more English they learn. In general, Furbies can say more than 800 phrases! FUN FACT! Furbish phonotactics are similar to many Polynesian and African languages, which likewise allow only open syllables with simple consonant initials. Furbish uses only eight consonants: t, k, b, d, l, m, n, and w.

Did you know Furby is making a come back? The all new Furbies not only have a mind of their own, they have their own language too! The more you play with them, the more ways you can unlock their fun personalities. And c’mon, you’d get to talk to Niall from One Direction too.

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3. Parseltongue

Parseltongue is the language of serpents and those who converse with them in the Harry Potter universe. It is a very uncommon skill among nonserpents, and is usually hereditary. Parseltongue language sounds very much like snakes hissing, and J. K. Rowling (author of Harry Potter) named the language after “an old word for someone who has a problem with the mouth, like a hare lip.”

The language has no written format or alphabet, so the following phrase is written in a romanised form.

4. The Languages Of Arda (Forms Of Elvish)

Many people watch the Lord of the Rings series and think that Elvish is just a blanket term for the language spoken in the film, but in fact, many branches of Elvish were developed by Tolkien for the Middle-Earth universe. His most mature languages were Quenya and Sindarin. The two languages were influenced by Finnish and Welsh.

Useful Phrase: (Sindarin) Gahr-eekh ee thole goal oh orkh.
Translation: You have the hollow head of an orc.

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5. Simlish

Simlish is fictional language used in the Sims game universe. Sims creator Will Wright and language expert Marc Gimbel decided that Simlish would be made up of gibberish words that couldn’t be translated, so the user would have to imagine the conversation. There is no written Simlish alphabet in the games, and if they appear in the game, they are represented with nonsense characters from Wingdings and the like.

6. Dothraki

The Dothraki language is used by the Dothraki in the series A Song Of Ice And Fire by George R. R. Martin. It was created by David J. Peterson for the TV series Game Of Thrones. Peterson said that the language sounds like a mix of Arabic and Spanish, due to dental consonants.

7. Na’vi

The Na’vi language is used by the Na’vi, the inhabitants of Pandora in the movie Avatar. It was created by professor Paul Frommer. James Cameron (director) wanted the language to sound “alien,” but also pleasant to audience members. (See video for in depth discussion from Frommer himself.)

8. Alienese

Alienese is a written language shown throughout the TV show Futurama. It was created as a joke to see how quickly fans could catch on and decipher it. There were 2 languages shown in the episodes. The first language was deciphered almost instantly from fans. The second language was much more complicated, but deciphered nonetheless.

See below for Alienese translations from season one.

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9. Daedric

The Daedric alphabet is used in The Elder Scrolls computer game series. It first appeared in Battlespire in about 1997. It is technically not a language, but an alphabet used to write English. (A fun way to write cryptic letters!)

See below for alphabet.

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10. Atlantean

The Atlantean language is used in Disney’s film Atlantis: The Lost Empire. It was created by Marc Okrand, and was intended be like a “mother language” of sorts, similar to Sumerian and North American languages. The main source of words for the language is Proto-Indo-European, but Okrand used a variety of other languages to construct Atlantean.